How do you find the best talent?

Description

Nolan Bushnell, Co-Founder and Board Chairman, Modal VR on how to find the best talent and avoid hiring dead people, either you have the passion or you don’t.

Video Transcript

How do you find the best talent?

How do you find the best talent depends on a whole bunch of things. The first one is if you have a really good corporate culture, talent will find you. The more important thing is to hire for passion. Not experience, not pedigree, not education, hire for passion. because in today’s world with the internet, it’s possible for people who want to learn to learn anything in a very short period of time, and passion is something that you have or you don’t. Maybe certain things can flip on passionless people with passion.

My biggest advice is don’t hire dead people. They have no life, and they’re in a box. You’d be surprised over how many PhDs or master degrees in business are dead from the neck up. They haven’t had a unique idea in their lives and they’re not likely to have it. They are recipe players, and they are just driven by process and not by outcomes. Just avoid people like that with the plague.

Also, require everyone that works with you shares your vision and your passion. The minute somebody comes in and interviews with me and start asking about the vacation program and want some kind of employment contract I stop the interview right then and say ‘You got the wrong mindset. I think you should leave now and save us our time.’ If they’re not willing to bet on themselves, I’m sure I’m not willing to bet on them.